LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 101, 14 September 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ha wera borough has carried a poll upon a proposal to borrow £SOOO for improving the water supply for fire-lighting purposes.

Mr. L. E. HoU'manit, who has been on a holiday visit to Auckland during the past fortnight, returned to New Plymouth yesterday morning. On the motion of Mr. Quilliam (Govett and Quilliam) probate of the will of t,he late Mr. Edmund Alfred Kcrby was granted by Mr. Justice Edwards on September 10. 11)12, to Isabel Mary Kcrby, the executrix named in the will.

The Borough Council has appointed a committee, comprising the Mayor and Crs. .Clarke and Buttimore, to confer with the General Laborers' Union with a view to arranging an agreement with 't|bo Union prior to the sitting of the Arbitration Court.

Interest will be lent to the Taranaki Provincial Fire Brigades' Demonstration, which is to be held on the Recreation Grounds on December 5, by the decision of the eonuiifttee to include three cycle races on the .programme, with an aggregate prize-money of £lO.

The Minister of Railways states that he has decided to let the right of selling newspapers on train by tender. Under this arrangement the number of news-runners will be restricted to one on each train, and the present arrangement, under which newsboys' tickets are issued' to newspapers, will be discontinued.

A meeting of suppliers of the Bell Block Dairy Company was held at Bell Block last, night to discuss the question of installing cheese plants !it Bell Block and I-lillsburougli. Mr. J. Gonnett, chairman of director*, .presided over a fair attendance. Alter discussing the pros and cons at considerable length, a vote taken showed" the meeting to be very evenly divided on the question, and accordingly no change will be /made this year.

The speaker at the usual weekly meeting of the.New Plymouth Brotherhood, to lie held in the Good Templar Hall tomorrow afternoon, will be Sir Robert Stout, K.C.M.t:., Chief Justice of New Zealand, wlro will probably deliver his interesting address, "Then and Now,'' comparing conditions in early New Zealand history witli those of to-day. The chair will be taken by Mr. J. B. Roy, vice-president of the Brotherhood. During the afternoon a quartette will bn rendered by Messrs. Milbum, Mclsaac, Read and Veale.

it is understood now that Wellington will not, after all, benefit to such a very large extent as was expected by the McCarthy bequest. A revaluation of the estate indicates that instead of being of the supposed value of £500,000, it is not of a greater value than between £.'170,000 and £380,000. It is also Understood that the estate is so tied up by the will that during the life of the widow the bequests to the city will not amount to much more than £OOOO a year. It will be necessary to pass a special Bill.through Parliament this year in connection with the administration of the bequests. The New Plymouth Brotherhood Debating Society held a very successful meeting last evening, the subject being set speeches on some famous character in history. Eight speakers took the platform, and at the close of t'hc various orations the Rev. J. W. Burton, who acted as _ judge, placed the five .best speakers in the following order: G. 11. Dolby (Darwin) and 11. B. Reid (Horatio Nelson). 75 marks each, first; \V. Duncan (liobert Burns), 05 marks second; W. O. Smith (John Wesley) 00 marks, third: S. Okev (Robert Olive)' 55 marks, fourth. Valuable criticism on the speeches was given by the judge, and was much appreciated by the various speakers. The subject .for next Fridftv Scptembcr 20. will be a lecture to be' given by Mr. W. Eraser.

The services in tlic Whiteley Memorial Oliure.h to-morrow will be conducted by the Uev. .1. Vi. Burton. The morning subject will be, "Am | nl y Brother's Keeper';" and in the evening .Mr. Burton will preach upon "Pilate—the Man who Paltered with the Bight." In the course of twelve months a large number of distinguished people visit NewZealand. Unfortunately the greater number of these do not include New Plymouth in their itinerary. One gentleman now touring New Zealand is, however, managing to pav New I'lvmouth a visit. We refer to the Bev. .1. E. WattsDilchlicld. M.A.. who will deliver an address to men only in St. Mary's Tfall 011 edncsday, .September 18, at S p.m. _ The animal meeting of the Taraanki Kleetnva!e lliaiich of the Political Bcforni Leajrue will lie held on Thursilav next in the Town flail. Advantage will be taken of the presence of Mr. 'l.inde green, the organising secretary, to obtain'the latest information as to or ganisatiou and the position of (lie movmerit. The secretary is abounding in energy and enthusiasm, so an interest incr address maj ;be expected.

'A movement is in -progress to construct a traffic route which will link up the break between Tokomaru and the Palm-erston-Foxton road in the vicinity of Longburn at a cost of £20,000 Mr II .Hansen, who rings the bell in the Kelso Church (Qtago), has just completed 21 years service and during all that time -had never missed a singe Sunday in attending to his duty. The old order changetli. A waggon drawn by a. team of horses got stuck in the mud near AYinton recently, -and a j motor lory was despatched from In vetcargill to tow it out.

There is a rare specimen of a trout at the Ilawera Acclimatisation Society's ponds. It is a pure white, and although three years old. is only live inches in length. The little chap is a curiosity to visitors.

Thirty years ago the Salvation Army did not owji an inch of land in Australia. Last year the freehold properties held were valued at £429,221. The fact that twelve months previously they stood at £379,78(1 indicates great growth even in twelve months. This year Commissioner Hay hopes to acquire £BO,OOO worth of property in Australia, principally in Sydney and Melbourne, so that when the next balance-sheet is isriued, capital values will show at over half a million.

A cable from New York to the Sydney Sun states that American surgeons are much interested just now in the case of John Yamnvick, a well-known Pittsburg baseball player, who is possessed of something in the nature of an impenetrable skull. Whatever the thickness of Yammick's cranium is, it is' apparently bullet proof. Last week he was bailed up and robbed by some highwaymen, who fired three shots at him, each of which struck him on the head. To the amazement of t'he doctors by whom lie was subsequently examined, the bullets instead of ploughing their way through the victim's head, had simply flattened Out against the skull. The surgeons declare that the case is the most remarkable of the kind on record.

"I was impressed by the great desire shown by many people in Great Britain to come out to New Zealand," declared Bishop Averill, of Waipu, who returned last week from a visit to the Old Country. "Xew Zealand is higher in the estimation of the people than was the «iSe when I last visited Great Britain, and keenness to know more about this Dominion is shown everywhere." Bishop Averill said that he received numerous inquiries about the conditions of work, the climate, and other matters in thin country, and several lectures which he gave were wcil attended. He said there was a great stream of population leaving Great Britain for Canada and Australia, and he thought the future would see large iiumfoers of immigrants coming' k> New Zealand.

Replying to a correspondent, the Post gives some interesting information as to the occasion on which some Maori prisoners of war escaped from a vessel (the Manukau) lying at Port Nicholson. From files of ISfifi it was ascertained thai on the night of Saturday, 2tM\ Januarv. in that year, 53 out -of 50 Maoris w'no had been captured in the Weraroa pa, and placed on board the hulk Manukau. lying in the Jvaiwarra bight, removed one of the bulkheads, and. clambering ■through a porthole in the bows of the vessel, lowered themselves into the water by means of a blanket used in lieu of a rope. Many of them used ni;.- of the hulk's boats to reach the sho; . The others started to swim to the ,i.- ach. and six were drowned in the attempt. One was shot in the bush and three were captured. The remainder of the party made their way baek to the tribe.

An election for the return of eight councillors to the Taranaki Cornlv Council will lie J) eld on October 2. The new Council wiH consist of nine members. Owing to the merging of various portions of the county into the borough, as well as the merging of several"road boards into the comity, alteration of the ruling boundaries was necessitated, evcry nding with the exception of Okato being allected in this way. Hurworth ridin" is absorbed completely, and a new ridinS has been formed, to bo known as Mangorei. This necessitated fresh elections m the whole of the vidinsjs save Okii'to which Cr. Andrews will still continue to represent. As. however, by valuation'. Okato is entitled to two members, n'.i election for the additional member will take place on the same day. The basis of membership will be: Moa three members \\aitara 'two, Okato two, Omata and Mangorci one each.

The possibilities in front of the Greenstone mdustr y in Zealand"were shown last week by the exhibition in Ohristchurch of a model of a mantelpiece, made entirely of greenstone. It was cut and polished by n local stonemason, iind it has a handsome and imposing appe,trance, showing that, if the industry realises expectations as far as the supply and cheapness of the stone are concerned, it ought to Oiave a very prosperous career. A company lias obtained a lease: of the immense deposits in the Mount (irill'in 'range, West Coast, which were discovered last year by Mr A. If. Wheeler, a West Coast mason. when he was on a shooting expedition in the mountains. An estimate places the lenglli of the deposit of greenstone leased" by the company at four miles, Avith :m average width of 80ft and a depth of u honi 2000 ft. It is part of a se.rpe? Line belt which runs along the Southern Alp* from Nelson to South Westland and,' which, it believed, contains a larg;- number of different kinds of minerals and precious stones.

A Swiss, residing at Siantar, in the Inland of Sumatra, has writ tjn home an account ot the capture and transportation of a young wild elephant in a motor car .by a resident of the town. The elephant, which was well roped, was driven to the nearest path in the forest, and with great difficulty the motor car arrived at the spot, a kind of platform replacing the body. The elephant was induced to mount the platform, ami wis strongly secured to it. The trio to Siantar i-Jarted. Out did'icultics at once aroi-ie because the elephant, whose trunk w »," Iree, used 'his proboscis to "\-amiue in turn the chaffcur. the seats in iront, the inachinen, and finally tlx* guiding wheel, his last_ manoeuvre nearly ui'r-ettinn- the car. which was brought to a stop as ti,e journey was becoming dangerous The elephant's trunk was' then'strapped to his body, and tho out an-ived ;il, tSjaiitar without, further incident, This is probably I lif liivt time that a wild elephant has had a. ride on a motor oar.

As a. sequel to the dismissal of a bvla.ws case in the Magistrate's Court on I hursday, Mr. 'Wilson vesterdav addi'esed the following letter to .the borough _ inspector: --"T am informed this morning that J was m error in statin;? yesterday that, the Borough Council had not laid (lie connecting drain from the sewer in Jlobson street to my propertv, but had stopped short at ilie outlet, to my existing pipes hi (he gutter. I „iav say that I was perfectly bona fide in making this sta lenviii. t certainly understood from Pari iugton that this was the ease, and so told the contractor. Indeed. after (he sitting of the Court, I asked him to see (ho borough engineer and arrange for (he connecting pipe to be -fixed. However, a * I was mtoujt, ami it was on this evidence that the case was disposed of I would ask you to apply for a re-hearing nm l s ] lo \ v letter jo (he M;i q k-t rat e.' ! Hint Mr. Wilson's letter wholly vindicates the Council and the ir.rp.-H or. Lhe bm-oii-'li authorities have ab ■ udoned i'l.-Ir lion of applying for a re-hearing, on |j,., grounds that, cert.nin oi' given on behalf of the defendant was incorrect.